O'Reilly again made false claim that Hussein "allowed" terrorist group Ansar Al-Islam "to exist in Northern Iraq"

On his nationally syndicated radio show, The Radio Factor, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly repeated his previously debunked claim that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had "allowed Ansar Al-Islam, an Al Qaeda affiliate, to exist in northern Iraq." In fact, as Media Matters for America has documented, northeastern Iraq, where Ansar Al-Islam operated, was "outside of Saddam's control before the war" [Associated Press, 1/23/04], and the terrorist group's pre-war ties to Al Qaeda were tenuous.

Media Matters has also debunked claims by O'Reilly that Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, who reportedly worked with Ansar al-Islam before the war, was Saddam's link to Al Qaeda (here and here). Zarqawi, who reportedly still has ties with Ansar Al-Islam, has since declared his loyalty to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and calls his group "Al-Qaeda in Iraq."

From the August 16 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

O'REILLY: Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator. He was Hitler-light. He and his sons slaughtered hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people. There was no freedom in Iraq. And the guy financed terrorism -- worldwide terrorism -- all day, every day. He allowed Ansar Al-Islam, an Al Qaeda affiliate, to exist in northern Iraq. He financed Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad. He paid the families of suicide bombers to kill children. He was an evil tyrant who made the world a far worse place because he lived. We removed him, and that was a good thing. You with me so far? OK. Freedom is good.

—R.S.K.